This spring sees BALTIC welcome Omer Fast, one of the most innovative and relevant filmmakers of our time, to their main exhibition space with the artist’s largest UK exhibition to date: Present Continuous. Born in Jerusalem but working out of Berlin, Fast’s work examines contemporary social and political issues, utilising a blend of both fact and fiction to do so. In a world of 24/7 news, where everyone carries a smartphone in their pocket and even our entertainment shows hide advertising and political narratives, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to know where the truth is, and feel connected with what is ‘real’. What makes Fast’s work so relevant is the way he interrogates this schism in reality, utilising the traditional tropes of storytelling and media reportage to do so. Fast’s work seeks to challenge the divide between reality and representation until there is no difference between the two. Re-enactments, news coverage and interviews all interweave with one another calling into question the truthfulness of the images before you, and challenging the viewer to reconstruct the stories and message hidden within.

The work at BALTIC will include 5,000 Feet Is The Best, a piece centred upon an interview with a former Predator drone operator; a re-working of his own work Continuity (about a solider returning of Afghanistan); and Everything That Rises Must Converge, a piece following four adult film performers. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, but always challenging, Omer Fast’s work is as exciting as moving image gets, and absolutely unmissable.